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As you wander into the Opera Gallery in Mayfair, London, something seems familiar. Yes, you can see the link to Berkeley Square, a short walk away, where Spanish artist Manolo Valdes’ immense sculpture ‘Butterflies’ has been creating smiles on visitors since January. Sadly, its time has come to an end and, as I write, it […]

Art of a different sort has arrived in New Bond Street in London. After 14 months with the building covered in a pink leather-effect hoarding, Louis Vuitton has opened its totally-refurbished New Bond Street store, redesigned by rebellious New York architect Peter Marino around a new sensuous spiral staircase that enables the floors to flow […]

Yesterday evening, I chaired an event at the Science Gallery at King’s College London at London Bridge, with the statue of Thomas Guy in the courtyard and his body in the chapel nearby. During the First World War, in 1915, Henry Lamb (1883-1960) completed his training as a doctor at Guy’s Hospital. Immediately prior to […]

Levy Gorvy made the bold decision not to exhibit at Frieze Masters earlier this month, but to run a complementary exhibition, which seems to have been a rip-roaring success, given that the international art aficionados are here in London and hungry to see other things in addition to Frieze. It’s like next week when I […]

The Tate Modern collection includes ‘Deposition’ (1986) – a series of 12 black-and-white inkjet prints by Josip Vaništa with images of three middle-aged men carrying a painted canvas through a snow-covered, wooded landscape. Croatian artist Vaništa is a master of monochromatic contrasts – white on white, white on black, white on grey and so on…. […]

At a time when the physical presence of galleries and art foundations seems very fluid, (in part due to the extortionate business rates these organisations have to pay – the Parasol Foundation being the latest organisation to indicate that it will give up its excellent gallery space near Old Street next year), the Goodman Gallery […]

The entrance may today look relatively grand, though perhaps a little unusual in the expensive property world of Mayfair, squashed as it is between two taller buildings, but 13 Carlos Place was once the brick back wall of the squash courts of the rather grand house at 47 Grosvenor Square built in 1924 to designs […]

Standing under the vast cloud, your initial feeling is of the weight of the world above you. But wait, there is a space in the centre of the cloud, a place of refuge, a place for dreaming. Like many of Antony Gormley’s works, you need to look closely at the detail, for what appears a […]

Was in coincidence that, with Phillips having its Photography auction last week, other galleries also had exhibitions of photography, that at Alon Zakaim focusing on three photographers – Terry O’Neil, Chris Smith and Douglas Kirlklans – who captured the world of film, fashion, music and celebrity in the 1960′s and 1970′s, all watched over by […]

It is fascinating to see how a brand can subvert its country’s heritage and then be transformed by a talented photographer into a work of art. I can’t see that happening with any of our current supermarkets, but then none of them has taken such a key part of our country’s heritage as its brand […]

Ian Caldwell

"The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul."
(Thomas Moore)
To be an architect means having a wide range of interests - architecture, art and creativity in all its variety of forms, sustainability, science and innovation. The greatest interest is often where these different worlds overlap and collide - that is when something imaginative often occurs that pushes us all forward to another place

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"Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for example"
(John Ruskin)
I hope to showcase contemporary design and innovation, including architecture, art, design, science, technology and sustainability, to those searching for architecture, design and art inspiration to create beauty. I hope you enjoy it and will contribute to it.